Crews fighting wildfire in City Creek

Smoke billows from a fire in City Creek Canyon Tuesday just northeast of Salt Lake City.

A wildfire burning in City Creek Canyon is expected to burn for at least the next day or so, fire authorities said.

The City Creek fire had torched approximately 175 acres of grass and sage Tuesday, and firefighters had no estimate of when it would be contained.

The fire was 6 percent contained by 9 p.m. Tuesday. As crews came off the mountain, six engines were monitoring the fire overnight. Officials said they were concerned about a wind advisory issued as a storm moved into the valley.

The fire was first reported about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, sending firefighters from Salt Lake and Davis counties scrambling to reach the remote site as smoke and flames moved steadily up the canyon.

Air tankers, helicopters and fire crews were scrambling to get to the remote site as huge columns of smoke churned into the skies above Salt Lake City. No evacuations from nearby homes have been ordered, although the fire is burning close to some radio towers.

"We don't know what caused it," said Salt Lake City Fire spokesman Scott Freitag. "There's been no lightning today. We assume it's human. There are a lot of trails in that area."

Aerial images showed the blaze churning up a mountainside, torching dry brush in an area barely accessible by bike path. The fire is burning some distance up the canyon, but not too close to homes and other structures in the canyon. The fire originated on private land, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Jo Pollock said.

"There's no time on containment," she said. "This is probably going to burn for a day or two."

Along with a continued air attack, Pollock said the Forest Service would have eight 20-man crews on the mountain today.

The City Creek fire is one of several burning in Utah. The Davis fire is about four miles south of Terra, in Tooele County. That lightning-sparked fire is approximately 110 acres in size.

The Bridal Veil Falls fire in Provo Canyon is about 240 acres in size. That fire is believed to be human caused.